This invention relates generally to article storage and feeding apparatus for providing a supply of articles to article utilization equipment, and more particularly to a novel and improved rotary article storage and outfeed apparatus for storing a supply of articles such as collapsed or folded cartons or carton blanks and feeding the articles on demand to utilization equipment.
Modern consumer products processing and filling equipment operates at relatively high rates of speed to attain economical production costs in the filling process. In order to maintain these relatively high speeds, the filling equipment must be provided with a reliable and continuous supply of cartons or packages to be filled. Specialized equipment sometimes called feeding or infeeding equipment has been devised to meet this need.
One particularly successful type of infeed device is a so-called carousel-type feeder, such as those described and claimed for use with can ends in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,722,741 and 4,000,709. A similar carousel-type feeder for carton blanks is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,462. All of the above-noted U.S. Patents are commonly owned herewith.
Similar requirements and problems are encountered in processing relatively flat, thin articles such as collapsed or folded cartons or carton blanks or so-called out-serts, which are generally folded printed materials such as instructions, coupons, advertising materials or the like which are packaged with products, often on the exterior of the packaging, to be held by shrink wrap or the like. Hence, the name out-serts, rather than the more familiar inserts which would be physically inserted within the package or other container. The equipment of the above-referenced patents, as well as the present invention, can also be adapted to handle a wide variety of stackable products or parts, such as metal, plastic or paperboard lids, tubs, stampings or box flats.
The use of such carousel feed units with carton blanks or out-serts require somewhat more careful handling than in the case of metal parts such as can ends. For example, it is important to avoid damage, bending or fraying of the edges of these paper or cardboard products. The handling often involves transfer from an outfeed or supply pocket or chamber of the carousel feeding apparatus to a receiving pocket or chamber or other intake device of a supply means for subsequent processing equipment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,371, which is commonly owned herewith, there is described a device for delivering stacked carton blanks or the like from an outfeed or supply pocket of a carousel feeding device to an elevated intake of a product filling lane. In this regard, the intake or infeed apparatus of the product filling line is located at a higher vertical level than the carousel feeding device.
While the use of the carousel feeding device and transfer for carton feeding apparatus of the above-mentioned '371 patent has proven highly successful in operation, some generally lower volume or lower speed applications exist which do not require the high capacity of operation and overall size of this equipment. In this regard, a typical carousel feeding apparatus of this type (i.e., as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,462) may employ twenty or more supply pockets to be filled with articles such as can ends or carton blanks. In some applications, this amount of accumulation and the attendant expense of a machine of this size are not necessary.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a smaller capacity and overall smaller size of carton feeding and transfer apparatus for storing a supply of articles such as carton blanks at a level easily accessible by an operator from floor level and for feeding these carton blanks upwardly to a vertical level above the supply and outfeeding the cartons from this higher level to an infeed or input for utilization equipment. With the smaller size of the present invention an operator can both operate the equipment and continue to supply the carton blanks or other articles to a storage portion of the device from a single operator station. Moreover, two or more apparatuses in accordance with the invention may be placed in relatively close proximity, such that a single operator can monitor the operation and provide an ongoing supply of articles to these two or more units. It should be recognized that the much larger overall size of the rotary feeder device as described for example in the above-referenced '741, '709 and '462 patents, is such that an operator is generally only able to operate and resupply articles to a single one of devices of this type. Thus, with the apparatus of the invention, only one operator may in fact be required to supply several packaging lines with carton blanks, out-serts or similar articles.